


Pam, the Devil, and a Wedding Day Dash

by PenguinZero



Category: Stray Little Devil
Genre: F/F, Marriage, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:20:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21842071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenguinZero/pseuds/PenguinZero
Summary: Five years later, Pam and Linfa are finally ready to tie the knot.  But a sudden appearance by old rivals leads to a madcap chase across Uruk, with the wedding at stake!  Can Pam and Linfa stop Camio's latest plot in time for their happily ever after?
Relationships: Akumachi Pam/Amayari Rinka, Akumachi Pam/Linfa
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Pam, the Devil, and a Wedding Day Dash

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rubylily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubylily/gifts).



_Five Years Later..._

Pam had flown from the Human World to the Spirit World many times before, and in many ways. On the back of Zu, carried by Lizyerra's giant bird Morrigan, even borne by her own wings once she had gotten strong enough (though that was always an erratic and terrifying way to go).

"This is your captain speaking. We're currently cruising at an altitude of about 40,000 feet, but we're about to cross over into Spirit World airspace, which will take us to an altitude of about 10,000 feet above Spirit World ground level. There may be some turbulence as we make the transition, so we're asking all passengers to return to their seats and fasten their seatbelts at this time."

This was, however, the first time she'd taken a plane.

To be fair, not many had before. There had been a few private flights, mostly diplomats and researchers and a few celebrities wanting to take advantage of their wealth and fame to see something few humans had seen before. But this flight, the one she and Rinka and their parents were on, was the very first commercial flight between the Spirit and Human Worlds, from Tokyo to the newly built airport in Uruk. The seats had sold out in minutes after they went on sale, but the airline had reserved a few tickets for Pam and Rinka — who, after all, were celebrities in their own way, especially in the Spirit World.

Rinka had taken the window seat, wanting to see the Spirit World from the air, which always fascinated her, leaving Pam with the aisle. Their families were across the aisle, talking quietly – in the past few years they'd become great friends, with their fathers bonding over a common love of golf and their mothers realizing they had a number of old friends in common.

It was a good thing they'd bonded so well, Pam thought – after all, they were going to be in-laws soon.

"I wish we could do this in the Human World, too," Pam said wistfully, turning to look at Rinka. "You deserve a beautiful wedding just as much as Linfa does."

Rinka giggled. "It's not like I'm not going to be there, you know. And anyway, we can have our own little ceremony next time we get home. Even if Japan still doesn't allow it, it'll be meaningful for us, right?"

"Yeah, I guess it will be," Pam said, smiling, as she laced her fingers with Rinka's. "And after all, Kusaka-kun said he'd be real mad if he didn't get a chance to see us get married, too."

"Well, he was with us when everything started. It'd have been nice to get a ticket for him, but..." She looked around at the packed plane, every seat filled with people from around the world able to afford the frankly exorbitant prices.

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Pam squeezed Rinka's hand. "Anyway, this is our day, not his. I'm still pretty nervous..."

Rinka laughed and squeezed back reassuringly. "You'll be fine. Zu-kun's going to have the whole venue set up by the time you get there, and you set up the catering before you left last time, and your friends are meeting us at the airport. There's nothing to worry about except looking forward to the honeymoon." She gave Pam a knowing look that made Pam laugh nervously and blush, turning away slightly.

"Still, it's funny to think that the next time we talk like this, we'll be married, isn't it?" Pam said, trying to talk over the butterflies in her stomach that she got every time Rinka looked at her that way. "I mean, we've been talking about it for years now, and planning it for months, but I still feel weird that you're basically going to sleep through your whole wedding."

Rinka giggled. "Well, not sleep exactly. But it is a little weird. It's worth it, though." She squeezes Pam's hand again. "Because it means I'll be married to you."

Rinka leaned in towards her and smiled. Pam, overwhelmed by her beauty, closed her eyes and let herself be guided in to a warm, wonderful kiss.

There was only a slight jolt as the plane flew above the edge of the Spirit World, but Pam could tell in other ways. She could feel her ceros and tail extending as the magic took hold, and the phantom stubs of her wings popping into existence. A moment more brought the slight warmth of Linfa's halo manifesting above. And above all, there was a change in the kiss -- from Rinka's eager, playful affection to a softer, calmer, but more intense passion.

When they finally disengaged from the kiss, Linfa looked at her, blinking, a little disoriented. "That," she said finally, "is perhaps the most interesting way I've taken the fore yet." She reached up to gently touch her lips, letting the sensation sink in.

Pam giggled. "Promise me we'll do it the same way next time we go back to the Human World — I want to see Rinka's reaction, too!"

Linfa smiled. "Of course. But I think we have quite a bit to do in the interim. Starting with them." She pointed back behind Pam, and when Pam looked back across the aisle she realized that both sets of parents were gawking. Hopefully just at the sudden manifestation of angel and devil traits, but... She couldn't help but blush.

"Could you talk to them when we land? It'd be nice for them to get a real introduction to you – I mean, Rinka and I have obviously told them all about you, but they haven't really met you yet. And..."

"And you'd find it hard to know what to say to your parents after they saw you in a passionate kiss with your fiancée."

"...Yeah, that too," Pam said, squirming a bit and rather wishing there were a way to burrow deep into her seat and hide.

Uruk Interworld Airport was still so new that parts of it were still roped off for construction, and construction workers — angel, devil, and spirit — were still working on putting up wall panels or lounging around near carts of construction equipment. The smell of wood chips and shaved metal permeated the whole area, and less than half of the various ticket counters and small shops were actually staffed. It was done largely in the conventional human style, given that the Human World had all the experience building airports, but little Spirit World touches shone through here and there, such as the perches for smaller spirits, or the magical charms wired in to the computers at the ticket counters.

There were some who'd objected to the name 'Interworld,' as there was still considerable argument whether a giant floating continent in the sky could properly be called a 'world,' but the names 'Human World' and 'Spirit World' had caught on, and at this point quibbling over terminology wasn't going to change it.

"...not that we are exactly the same person, but it's also not that we're different people, either," Linfa was saying to her parents and Pam's as they walked out of the boarding gangway. "We have all the same memories, and indeed most of the same thoughts. Perhaps it's most accurate to say that we're different attitudes we take up — or a bit more than that. When I remember what happened in the Human World, I can remember everything we did, but it doesn't feel like I was the one doing them — and Rinka has said that the converse is true for her."

"I can't say I really understand it," Mrs. Amayari, Rinka's mother said, "but after everything that's happened these last few years, I can't exactly disbelieve it. And you — I mean, Rinka's said nothing but good things about — about 'Linfa' and all the things you've done here in the Spirit World. So..." 

"So however odd it may be," Mr. Amayari said, "I want you to know that to us, you're our daughter too. And I'm looking forward to getting to know you."

"That... means much to me. I had but one father figure here in the Spirit World, and he sacrificed his life years ago. So... I think I would be honored to be able to call you my parents."

Pam turned away to wipe away a tear of happiness as Mr. and Mrs. Amayari leaned in to embrace their daughter. She'd been a little worried about how the first meeting would go — not a lot, since she knew the Amayaris were good people, but still, the first meeting with someone who was sort of their daughter but sort of someone else was a big hurdle. Now—

"Pam!"

Pam found herself staggering under the weight of a double tackle as Raim and Vine lunged into hugs simultaneously. "You're back!" Vine said eagerly. "It's been so hard to wait — we've been helping to get everything set up, but today's finally the day at last!"

"Missed you when you were spending so long down there with the humans," Raim added, ruffling Pam's hair. "C'mon, spare a little time for your old pals, you know?"

Pam laughed, hugging them back. "It's not like you guys weren't busy too, right? I know you had a lot of work to do back at your village, Raim, and Vine, weren't you going to be busy with advanced classes—"

"Aw, that doesn't matter!" Raim cut her off impatiently. "We can talk about us later. This is your day, remember? You two are finally tying the knot! That's so cool!"

"It really feels like you've been together forever," Vine added. "It's so nice to finally have it made official!"

"It's been a while, yeah. But a really fun while." Five years of wonderful dates, five years spent getting to really know each other and learning how to be a proper couple... Five years of affection that she still found it hard to think about without blushing, even the really simple stuff like going for a long walk or holding hands in class. Five years well spent.

"Man, I am so jealous," Raim said, crossing her arms in a huff. "Why can't I find someone nice and get hitched, too?"

Vine laughed. "Well, I suppose we can't say you haven't tried..."

"Yeah, but it's so awful. All the devil guys who've been hitting on me are complete jerks, and the only angels who've tried are total creeps who just think all devil girls are easy. I thought things were looking up when we did that whole exchange program with Pam's human school, but none of those girls ended up being serious about dating at all!"

Pam laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, it's... kind of different in the Human World. I think a tough devil girl from another world probably felt like a 'safe' first crush for a lot of them..."

"Well, it bites, let me tell you that."

"You'll find someone someday, I'm sure!" Pam took her hands and looked right into her eyes. "You're an awesome devil, and you've been getting more awesome all the time. Whether they're angel or devil or spirit or human, I'm sure there's someone out there for you!"

"Aheh... Thanks, Pam." Raim rubbed the back of her head. "Though honestly I'd go for a devil or a spirit first choice. All the hassle you and Linfa have had — I mean, it's awesome that you can deal with traveling between the Human World and the Spirit World so much, but the backlash from the whole angel-demon marriage thing was just unreal."

"It's true," Vine said. "Even though the two of you were such heroes to everyone here, I suppose it was optimistic to think you'd overturn centuries of tradition all at once."

"No kidding," Pam said ruefully. "I mean, I knew angels and devils had hated each other for a long, long time. But I didn't know it was so ingrained. Even into the law!" She ran a hand through her hair. "If it weren't for your granddad, I don't know what we would've done."

"That why you asked him to officiate?" Raim asked. "I mean, he's a good choice anyway, but…"

"But he did so much for us," Pam nodded. "Chairman Malphas helped us find the laws that made it illegal for a devil to marry an angel, and helped Linfa look in the right places for the same kind of laws in Angelea… and then he helped us find ways to change them. It took years, and we had to get so many people on our side… If he hadn't been with us every step of the way, we might not have made it." She looked over at the doorway wistfully. "Is he here? I want to thank him for everything…"

"He's finishing up important Pandemonium business," Vine said. "Since he'll be busy with the ceremony all afternoon, he wanted to get his work done early. He said he'll meet us at the amphitheatre."

"Still, you guys did good with or without him," Raim said. "I mean, you held out five whole years when it was totally obvious you were more head-over-heels for each other every day. If I were you, I'd've just dragged her off down to the Human World and gotten married there years ago!"

Pam laughed. "That wouldn't have worked either! We were still too young — and even now that we're old enough, they still wouldn't let us get married there."

Raim furrowed her brow. "Why the hell not? I mean, they thought angels and devils were myths for, like, centuries, right? So why's it against the law for them to get married?"

"No, not that! It's not about angel and demon. It's just that, well, we're two girls."

Raim stared blankly at Pam. "...Wait, what? How is that even a thing?"

"It's kind of a long story. I think it's got a lot to do with human religion... and probably the fact that you need a male and female human to make babies."

Raim snorted. "Okay, I've said it before, but I gotta say it again. Humans are so incredibly weird."

"Yes, yes, I know," Pam said, an embarrassed, strained grin on her face. The last time Raim had gone on a 'humans are weird' rant had been when she was visiting the Human World and was denied entrance to a movie because of her age, leading to a whole tangent about how different types of spirits grew at different rates and it was totally unfair, or at least would be if those spirits visited (though she'd eventually had to admit she wasn't one of them). The time before that had been a critique of human food because no one cooked anything spicy enough for her or used such traditional devil foods as bat or dragon. Pam was desperately hoping this wouldn't get Raim onto a tirade about how spirit reproduction was so superior.

Fortunately, it looked like Vine was thinking the same thing. "Oh, Pam, in your last letter you mentioned you'd found the things you were looking for?"

"Oh, right!" Raim perked up at the thought. "Your grandma's stuff, right? You were hyping them up so much. So, c'mon, let's have a look!" She grabbed at Pam, making a show of groping at her pockets. "You did bring them with you, right? You were so excited—"

"Ahaha! C'mon, quit it, that tickles!" Pam squirmed free of Raim's grasp with a grin. "They're in my carry-on. I didn't want them falling out of my pocket or anything if we hit some turbulence."

She crouched down and started rummaging in her bag. "I've got my dad to thank, really. He knew where all the stuff Grandma left behind was stored. And it turned out he'd been thinking of passing them along to me when I got married anyway – it's just that with all that's been going with the Spirit World and learning that magic is real and everything, it totally slipped his mind until I asked him."

"Is that him over there, with Linfa?" Vine asked.

"Yeah, the one with the glasses. And there's my mom next to him, and Rinka's parents are the ones next to Linfa."

"Oh, cool," Raim said, floating up a little for a better look. "We never had a chance to meet them when we were visiting the Human World, did we? It always got so busy. Works out nice, this way, though — now we get to meet them and you guys can meet my dads at the same time."

Pam's eyes widened. "Oh, wow! You brought your family?"

"Yeah, pretty much everyone from my village is here. Since we just got done with the new wind break, I figured we could come meet you as a reward. They've all been really enthusiastic about checking out the new airport for some reason." She turned to look behind her, and frowned. "Man, where'd they go? Everyone keeps wandering off."

Vine pointed upwards. "Isn't that them, up there?"

Pam and Raim craned their necks to look upwards. Sure enough, two little glowing spirits with jagged, spiky hair and bodies were perched on the hanging monitor that displayed arrival and departure times (or would, once there were more to actually announce). Raim growled. "Oh, for crying out — Dad, Pa, get the hell down from there and come meet my friends!"

One of the spirits waved as the other kept poking interestedly at the screen. "Hi, honey!" he said cheerfully. "Don't mind us — we'll be down in a few minutes. We just wanted to get a better look at this fascinating thing."

Raim groaned and turned back to Pam in a huff. "Sorry about this — I dunno what's gotten into them. They were looking forward to meeting you, but the moment we stepped in here, everyone just was like a baby faerie in a candy shop."

Pam nodded, but she couldn't drag her eyes away from Raim's parents. They were still up on the monitor, curiously poking at the display and prying off the back panel to look inside. Another duo of spirits were over at the ticketing desk, disassembling a printer, and over by a side door four or five were fiddling with a cart of construction tools, including what looked like nothing so much as a cylinder of propane gas.

A little niggling feeling started to poke her in the back of her brain. Nothing she could put her finger on yet, but something that made her feel deeply worried nonetheless. "Uh, Raim? Now that I think about it... I don't think you've ever said what kind of spirits your family are."

"Huh? Yeah, I guess not, but isn't it obvious?" She tapped her lightning-bolt-shaped horn. "We're all lightning spirits. Everyone in my hometown is. A pretty minor type, I guess — maybe you haven't heard the name — but we're called gremlins."

"Oh." Pam watched, almost hypnotized, as she saw Raim's fathers pulling two wires out of the monitor, and in what seemed like slow motion, brought them together...

"Duck!"

When the smoke and dust started to clear, the airport was a wreck. Several electronic devices — and the propane tank — had exploded nigh-simultaneously, blasting out portions of drywall and setting small fires everywhere. The angels, devils, and spirits circulating through the airport were shocked and confused, struggling to get to their feet or rushing about trying to get a hold on the situations, sporting few injuries but causing much chaos.

"Linfa! Linfa, are you all right?" Pam rushed over and helped her coughing fiancée to her feet. "Mom, Dad, are you—"

"We're fine, dear," her father said, helping the Amayaris up as well. "But what in the world was that all about?"

"It was Raim's family. She brought them all to visit, but it turns out they're gremlins..."

Linfa blinked. "Why would that — oh. Oh, I see." She looked over at the spirits of lightning thoughtfully. "I didn't know, but since Rinka does, I do now: according to legend, gremlins are attracted to technology and disrupt it. But there's never been technology like this in the Spirit World before, so perhaps even they didn't know..."

The gremlins, like the others, were in a state of confusion and fear, running around, shrieking and letting off little zaps of electricity, some of which in turn leapt to dry building materials or vulnerable electronics, starting new fires.

"Aw, jeez, they're panicking! Vine, help me round them up!" Raim leapt into the air and soared after her parents, scooping them up in her arms, while Vine pulled several crying gremlins out of the way of a fire and called out her familiar, Vivian, to put it out.

"I guess it could've been worse," Pam said, looking around to make sure there was no more danger that wasn't already under control. "At least no one was really hurt, and even if some stuff is damaged, it doesn't look like..."

Something suddenly struck her. She looked down at her empty hands in panic, then patted down every pocket she had (which wasn't many, as she'd dressed for comfort in shorts and a short top for the flight), then dove at her carry-on and began rooting through the contents. "Where did it go? I can't–"

"Ohohohoho! Looking for this, little human?"

"That voice!" Pam spun around, dreading what she'd see. 

"You may have thwarted me dozens of times over the past five years, little human." The devil standing on top of the ticket counter took the tiny box from the hands of one of her kneeling lackeys and held it high over her gleaming head in triumph. "But with these precious treasures in my hands, nothing can stop me from finally being free to spend my life with my prince with the mane!"

"It's you! O'Camel!"

Camio staggered at the affront, nearly faceplanting off the edge of the counter. "No, no, no, no, no! How many times do I have to tell you! It's not O'Camel, it's Camio! The great and powerful Camio!"

Behind her, Gäap muttered to his brother Ose, "Seriously, she's gotta be doing it on purpose at this point, doesn't she?"

"I believe this is the twenty-fourth time she's misnamed our lady this year alone, big brother," Ose replied thoughtfully. "Including such fascinating variants as 'Canteloupe,' 'Caramello,' and 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful.' Either she has a dramatically poorer memory for names than has ever been indicated, or it is indeed some manner of teasing that our lady has yet to understand."

"Did you do this? Sabotage the airport so it'd blow up when something went wrong?"

"Perish the thought. If you have to blame anyone, blame that creepy old man and his lax building methods. No, I was merely here to watch for an opportunity – and fortuitously enough, your friend's family provided me with one!"

"Unforgivable." Linfa strode out of the smoke to face Camio, her face grim and stern. "When disaster strikes, you prey on the victims for personal benefit? That is low even for you, Camio."

She reached out into the air beside her, and a lance materialized in her hand, its head a cross-shaped flare of light. "This is theft. And both as the new Archangel of the Aureole and as the fiancée of Akumachi Pam, I have a responsibility to punish this crime. Hand over her property, and I will allow you to leave unmolested. But if you do not–"

"Sonata!"

Linfa whipped her head around, leaping back at the sound of the voice. "What? You—"

"Andante Fortissimo!" A glowing keyboard of light flashed into existence under the arc of a sweeping finger, and a volley of notes rang out as Linfa was forced back by bursting flares of light. Shielding herself with her arm, she glared at the perky angel who'd just leapt in to Camio's side.

"Marielou! What on earth are you doing here? And... attacking me?!"

Marielou winked at Linfa. "Sorry about that, big sister! I really didn't want to have to fight you, but I can't just let you stop this plan we've spent so much time on!"

"'We?' You mean to say you've been working with Camio?"

"It's all for a good cause, I swear it! It's for your sake, too, sister!"

"Oh ho ho! You could never hope to understand the complex depth of our plans — but soon, everyone will see the power you have given me!" She leapt from the desk counter, landing at the main entry to the terminal, and the others quickly followed her. "But for now, I'd rather not risk you interfering with my plans. Gäap! Ose! Cover our retreat!"

"You got it!" Gäap smashed the wall to one side of the entry with his fist, and Ose slashed through the other with an enchanted fan. They then turned and ran, chasing Camio and Marielou as the hallway creaked, sagged, and buckled, and plaster showered down from the roof.

Pam bolted for the door, but hesitated at the last moment. "Wait — Mom! Dad! I can't just—" A girder crashed down in front of her, and then another, and before she knew it the way out was blocked.

"Just go, honey!" her mother called out. "We'll be fine — we can follow your friends!"

"Okay, but — but they cut off the exit! Now what are we going to—"

"What the hell's going on here?"

"Old man Orobas!"

The middle-aged devil, dressed in a construction worker's outfit and hoisting a load of timber on his shoulder, had walked in on the scene of chaos and was taking it all in with considerable disbelief. "Who the hell did this? I spent months getting this place built, and someone just—"

"Please, we need your help!" Pam shouted as she half-ran, half-flew to him. "Cammie was just here, and she stole something really important to me, and then she knocked down the doors so we can't get out..."

"This was her doing?" He dropped the wooden beams on the floor with a loud thud. "Damn it, she's always been a pain in the tail, but this time is way over the top even for her."

"Uh, yeah!" Raim said, her arms full of squirming, crying gremlins, struggling not to drop any as she reached for one that had gotten herself wedged behind a bench. "Yeah, this was totally her doing, nobody else's. Yep! No need to look for any other causes."

"This has gone too far." He reached into his vest and threw a tiny, rune-engraved square of metal to her. "There's a service entrance over that way. That charm'll get you through it no trouble. You should be able to beat her to the main road if you hurry."

Pam grabbed at the key charm, bobbling it between her hands until she managed to get it firmly gripped between them. "Thank you! You're the best, old man Orobas!"

"Just get moving or you'll lose her," he replied with a smirk. And as she and Linfa rushed out of sight, wings expanding as they went, he called out, "And for the last time, I ain't old!"

The streets of Uruk were packed with angel, devil, and spirit alike, out shopping or getting a quick lunch before returning to work. Camio, Gäap, Ose, and Marielou flew through the crowd like wrecking balls, scattering the crowds as its members either threw themselves aside in panic or got blasted out of the way by air bursts from Ose if they were too slow.

Linfa and Pam soared after them in hot pursuit, staying a bit higher so as not to crash into anyone. Linfa was in the lead, her great wings cutting through the wind and aether with equal ease, letting her soar smoothly and steadily towards the fleeing thieves. Pam's style of flight, in contrast, looked far slower and clumsier at first glance. She tumbled, bobbed, and weaved, darting back and forth as the wind and the aether currents shifted, and she was gradually falling behind. Marielou, flying on her own radiant wings, flipped on her back to look back and laugh at her.

"Wow, the stray little human's been here for years now, and she still can't master flying? Give it up, girl, and just go back to your little Human World. Maybe you'll be able to find nice a human girl who'll take pity on you for being so incompetent, and then you can leave my poor sister alone."

"Marielou!" Linfa's tone was shocked and scolding. "I won't have you disrespecting my fiancée that way. And surely you should be able to tell—"

"It's okay, Linfa," Pam said, tumbling head over heels as the aether currents swirled around her. "I know I've never been strong enough to overpower the wind and force myself in one direction like everyone else can. But..." She suddenly flicked back and forth, spreading her wings wide. "I can read the wind and the aether currents better than anybody else. I know how to go along with them without fighting either." She floated upwards, buoyed up and almost hovering as the others got further ahead of her. "And that means, when everything lines up right... I can do this!"

And then she shot forward as if from a cannon, wings catching a sudden updraft and using its power to tack along the side of a powerful aether current, letting their combined speed and angles shoot her forward at a breathtaking pace. She zoomed past Linfa in a moment, and made a beeline towards her targets, as Marielou's face went from smug to shocked in the course of seconds.

"Gah! Hey, you idiots, do something! She's gaining on us!" Marielou nudged Ose in the side as she flipped back to facing forward, focusing on her speed, and the brothers turned to unleash blasts at the rapidly-approaching devil. But Pam could sense every ripple those blasts caused in the aether, and those ripples almost automatically nudged her out of the way before the blasts could hit.

"Damn it, she's too fast!" Gäap twisted and changed course, breaking off to the left, and Ose followed him a moment later as Marielou swerved right. "Scatter – she can't catch us all!"

"I don't need to catch all of you!" Pam reached out towards Camio, her hand getting ever closer to the fleeing devil's heel. "I just need to get back what you stole from me – and you're the one who has it!"

"Oh ho ho? So you think, girl – but how do you know I haven't slipped your treasure to one of my confederates while you weren't looking!"

"Because it's right there in your hand."

Camio blinked and looked down at the box she was holding. "Curse your dark perceptive magic, uncovering my hidden ploy!"

"It was literally just right in plain sight..."

"Ah, but when it comes to curses, I'm the true master!" She began sketching a hexagram in the air in front of her, filling out its segments with glowing runes. "And there are more curses than just ones to hurt your enemies..." She finished off the rune with a flourish, and pressed her hand into it. "Curse of Recklessness – grant me unmatched, unstoppable speed!"

The curse flared, and wrapped Camio for a moment in sickly purple light. Then, suddenly, she sped up to an astonishing degree, matching, then exceeding Pam's.

"Ha ha! You see, brat? I couldn't let you catch me if I wanted to, now! Now I've just got to mmmthph!"

Camio's gloating was rather spoiled when a cat jumped off a nearby roof and onto her head, its scarf fluttering in her eyes and its tail going straight into her mouth.

"What in the—thphhht!—Get off me, you lousy little furball! I can't see where I'm—"

The crash was a spectacular one, as Camio went head-first into a food stall at the side of the road and Pam, chasing too close behind, followed suit, their combined momentum carrying them through two further food stalls before coming to a halt in a crumpled heap at the base of a third as the Curse of Recklessness finally sputtered out. The panda-like proprietor tapped its long pipe thoughtfully as it looked down at the wreckage. "The wrath of a woman in love is slow but sure," it said cryptically.

The cat, which had hopped off Camio's head moments before the impact, paced around them thoughtfully. "Are you quite all right?" he asked, placing a paw on Camio's forehead.

Camio groaned as she staggered to her feet, then shook her head violently. "Why did—?" Then her eyes fixed on the cat, and she snarled as she lifted it by the scruff of its neck.

"You little — I'll skin you for that, I swear!"

"No! Don't hurt the kitty!" Pam lunged at Camio, trying to grab for the cat, but her leg gave out underneath her, and she cried out in pain. "Owww! My ankle!"

Marielou tugged at Camio's collar, yanking her to her feet. "Come on, forget about the cat! We've got to get out of here before my dear sister catches up with us!"

"Marielou – why are you doing this?" Pam looked up at the angel with watery eyes, holding on to her injured leg and making no move to stand. "I thought you liked Linfa! Don't you want her to be happy?"

"Of course I do! That's why I'm doing this. I'm stopping her from making a mistake that'll make her miserable forever." Marielou looked up to the rapidly approaching Linfa, her wings spreading wide to shadow the street and block out the sun. "But you'd never understand that, because you're the biggest mistake she's ever made."

She leapt into the air with Camio in tow, zipping off just as Linfa swooped down, landing right by Pam. "Are you all right? How badly are you hurt?"

"I—ow!—I think I'm okay. It's just my ankle..." Pam tried to rise, but winced as she put weight on her foot, and sunk back down again.

Linfa tched at her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Stay down until I can see how bad it is. This would be a terrible time to make a minor injury into something serious."

"Okay, okay..." Pam sunk back down as Linfa started murmuring the words to a spell. "It's so embarrassing. I really thought I could get her..." She looked over at the spirit who'd gotten in Camio's way. She'd thought it was Sitri for a moment, but the markings were entirely different. "Thanks for stalling her, at least, mister. At least you tried!"

The spirit smirked, and pulled a pair of glasses out of its scarf with one paw. "'Mister?' That's a terribly impersonal way to refer to an old friend, now, isn't it?" he said, nudging the glasses onto his face.

"What?" Pam stared at him in befuddlement for a moment, before the light dawned. "Oh my gosh, Valic? I almost didn't recognize you!" She lunged in for a hug.

"Heh heh. I finally had to give up maintaining my devil-like form and go back to my natural spirit shape. It's just too energy-intensive, even for short periods, if you don't have a devil's reserves of magic to draw on. And I've been spending a lot of energy for other purposes, lately, too..."

"The library, yes?" Linfa said, supporting Pam as she tried to stand up. "When Pam first introduced us last time, she mentioned you were building one in your home town. How is that going?"

"Quite well, actually." He stood and stretched, letting his scarf flow in the breeze. "I've managed to acquire quite a few rare and unusual texts from across both Angelea and Demonea, and the library building itself is nearly complete. It's taken quite a lot of work to create a facility that will safely store even the most dangerous magical tomes, but we're nearly there. I hope to be able to show it to you by the time you're back from your honeymoon."

"Ehehehe," Pam giggled, blushing again. "But it sure was lucky, that you just happened to drop down on her just as she was flying by..."

"Oh, it was quite intentional, believe me. I saw her and her lackeys flying down the street, causing quite the disturbance, and the two of you in hot pursuit, and it wasn't hard to guess at least some of what was up. And after that, it was just a matter of figuring out the best way to intervene."

"It was an excellent try," Linfa said, supporting Pam with an arm around her as they got to their feet. "If only she hadn't been so quick to recover..."

"Oh, making her crash wasn't my plan. And I certainly never intended for you to get caught up in it. My apologies. No, leaping on her was in service of a more cunning ploy." He cocked his head, letting his glasses gleam in the light. "Surely your fiancée has told you that even if I was never good enough with magic to become a proper devil, I was thoroughly acquainted with the use of magic items and talismans?"

"Well, yeah, because you were using them to cheat all the time— wait. Wait, you mean?" Pam stepped towards him slightly, then winced as she tried to put weight on her injured ankle.

Valic smiled. "I tagged her with an obtrusiveness charm. One of the more obscure but handy magics I discovered while I was still trying to be a devil. No matter how hard she tries to hide, someone will always notice her — and if you carry the other half of the charm," he added, tugging a silver pentagram out of his scarf and pressing it into Pam's hand, "word of it is guaranteed to get to you."

"Oh, wow!" Pam held up the pentagram, marvelling at the intricate engraved runes making up the lines and ornamentation. "That's amazing! Thank you, Valic."

Linfa smiled at him. "Though it's not like Camio's any good at hiding in the first place."

Valic winked at her. "Call it insurance, then. Will you be okay? I wish I could help, but I've got an urgent delivery I need to make right now if I want to be on time for—"

Pam waved him off, her eyes searching across the skyline. "I'll be fine! You go and get the job done. I think there's someplace nearby we can rest up..."

"Ah, Pam-chan, you're here already! My assistant's just putting the last touches on the catering, and — oh, my! What happened to you?"

The owner of Cafe Ziggurat rushed over to help Pam, who was being supported on Linfa's shoulder, limping and barely putting her weight on one leg. The two of them helped her into a chair, and she collapsed backwards with a sigh of relief.

"What happened to you?" the owner said.

"It's a long story," Pam said. "Some people who don't like me picked the worst day to pick on us..."

"Here, let me take a look at that ankle," Linfa said, crouching down to lift up Pam's leg and pull off her shoe.

Pam blushed and squirmed at the touch. "It'll be fine, really, Linfa-chan, I just—"

"Pam, you are injured. I'm not going to let you stay hurt if I can possibly help it."

"I know, it's just..." She didn't know how to say how... intimate it felt to have Linfa kneeling there, holding her leg, feeling it to see how far the injuries went. And all this while the owner of Cafe Ziggurat was hovering over them, wringing his hands and trying to find a way he could help too.

"Danu." Linfa invoked a magic word, and a warm red glow suffused her hands, seeping into Pam's injured leg. It soothed Pam's pain almost instantly, and she could feel health returning to her. "There. This will take a few minutes, but it should heal cleanly."

"I'll go get you a washbasin," the owner said, hustling off towards the kitchens. "You're all scuffed up from whatever happened – you should at least get some of the dirt off."

That left the two of them all alone, in the front of the restaurant. Pam looked down at Linfa with an embarrassed smile. "This has been a pretty messed-up day, hasn't it?"

"Certainly a memorable one," Linfa said, adjusting her hands so the healing light penetrated more deeply.

"Yeah, but... I don't know. I hate it when we have bad luck like this. It almost makes me think that something doesn't want us getting married after all."

"Something cosmic and mystical? Highly unlikely. Though it's painfully obvious that Camio, Marielou, and the others are for some reason set on thwarting it."

"Yeah." Pam let out a long sigh. "Do you ever regret any of this? I mean, if you'd never met me, you could've married some nice angel, Rinka could've married a nice human boy, you wouldn't have to worry about getting ambushed on the way to your wedding..."

"And the Spirit World would have been destroyed because we were never able to perform the Enuma Elish together."

"Well, yeah, that, but..."

Linfa straightened Pam's leg slightly, probing it to see how well it was healing. "Pam, it's true that we get into considerable amounts of trouble together. And this is far from the worst we've endured — even just since we got engaged."

Pam laughed faintly. "I guess that trip to the ancient cursed ruin was a bit worse in the end. But nobody ever told me there were dragons there."

"But we've had each other through it all. You have save me more times than I can count, and I have saved you. We've had great joys and great fear and great sorrow together." She looked up to meet Pam's eyes. "I love you, Akumachi Pam. And I wouldn't trade all of this for any amount of lessened trouble."

Pam blushed, a bright red that almost matched the healing light. And it might have just been the reflected light, but Linfa's face looked rather red too.

They finally looked away from each other, Pam glancing off to one side while Linfa looked down again at the healing light.

"I, uh, I do kind of wish I wasn't so prone to accidents," Pam said, casting about for something to fill the silence. "I get scraped up like this more than I'd like."

Linfa continued to watch the healing light work, her gaze distant. "'In love,'" she said in a quiet voice, "'and frail as the stem of this summer flower – yet you will bloom deep red under a dazzling sun.'"

Pam felt the heat rising in her face. "You remembered," she said quietly. She and Rinka had set out to learn more about her grandmother's favorite poet a little over a year ago, after they'd been talking about the poem she'd left engraved inside the Urnan Tree. They'd spent a long night together reading the poems, being surprised by just how forward and bold and sensuous a woman had dared to be a century ago.

It was honestly amazing how much sensuality she could pack into a short, five-line tanka. As Pam and Rinka had discovered that night, huddled together beneath a blanket with a flashlight, whispering quietly to each other so Pam's parents wouldn't hear...

"Of course I remember," Linfa replied. That poem had been one of Pam and Rinka's favorites. "It may have been Rinka who read them... but even if we are of two minds, we are of one heart. And those poems engraved themselves there."

She looked up at Pam, and now Pam could see the longing in her eyes. Pam hadn't been the only one to be affected by the intimacy of their pose. Slowly they leaned together, Linfa rising up, their faces coming close...

"Unbelievable!" An angel in a cook's outfit flounced through the front door, slamming it against the wall and throwing his arms up dramatically. "Not only am I, the great Digitalis, reduced to working in a devil's kitchen, but now my greatest feast in years – no, in decades! – is being ruined by – by party-crashers!" He blinked and looked over to where Pam and Linfa had bolted to their feet, looking away from each other and blushing beet red. "Oh, you're here? I thought you'd be coming straight to the venue. Not that it matters any more – the day is thoroughly ruined!"

"Oh, now, Digitalis, stop being so dramatic," the owner said, coming back into the dining area with a bowl of warm water and some cloth napkins. "What's gotten you in such a fuss?"

"It's truly horrific. I was laying out the buffet at the auditorium, making sure everything was to my exacting specifications. I'd finally managed to get that wretched familiar to stop sampling everything, and I was preparing the grand centerpiece, when all of a sudden these four horrible people came flying in without a care to where they were going! One of them even crash-landed in the punch bowl! And when I tried to chastise them for their carelessness, they went so far as to kick me out! Me, the great–!"

"Four of them?" Pam cut in, though it didn't stop Digitalis's self-absorbed laments for a moment. "Linfa, it's got to be–!"

Linfa nodded. "How is the ankle feeling?"

Pam rotated it experimentally, then grinned. "It's great. Thank you so much!"

"Good. Then let's go. We've a wedding to rescue..."

Before the rebirth of the Spirit World, actually approaching the Urnan Tree had been a contentious matter. Angels and devils alike relied on the power of life that flowed from its branches, and the entire city of Uruk was laid out such that whichever side dominated the rivalry and controlled more of the city could tap into more of that power. Approaching the tree itself wasn't strictly forbidden, but it could easily lead to the other side accusing the trespasser of trying to tap directly into its energy and disrupt the balance, which would be almost as bad as crossing directly into the enemy nation. So, outside of carefully-negotiated missions approved of by both Pandemonium and the Church, trips to the tree were rare and furtive.

Now, however, Angelea and Demonea were in a state of detente. The life energy of the Urnan Tree had been renewed after the Enuma Elish, to such a degree that both nations had more than enough for all their people, more than anyone could have imagined just five years ago. And, of course, the tree had gained even more fame as the site where the apprentice devil Pam and the Successor of the Aureole Linfa had united and rebuilt the world anew without destroying what had come before.

So time had marched on, and people had taken a renewed interest in actually visiting the Urnan Tree instead of simply drawing on its power from afar. And with visits came the need for pathways and benches and rest stops, and with those came an opening for canny vendors to set up stalls and booths to supply food and souvenirs to the visitors, and pretty soon the Guild and the Chapel had built no fewer than three event venues around the base of the tree, able to be set up for everything from concerts to lectures to weddings.

The Marduk Memorial Auditorium was built around a grand dais, open to the sky and the branches of the tree far above, with seating stretching up the slopes of the hills around it. Pam and Linfa had chosen it as their wedding venue for both practical reasons and symbolic, and now the auditorium was decorated beautifully, with flowers and banners raised up all around, and a buffet of choice food provided by Cafe Ziggurat laid out on tables at the back. It had been long, hard work, and the person in charge of making sure everything turned out right had considered himself entitled to a little nap before the ceremony itself got started.

That had, in retrospect, been a mistake.

Gäap planted his foot on the bundle of fur, feathers, and rope lying on the central dais, grinning fiercely. "Finally! It's been five long years, but I finally managed to get a solid win in against you, you damn furball."

"That doesn't count!" En Zu, Genie of the Storm, Pam's loyal familiar, and of late de facto wedding planner, said indignantly. "It wasn't a real fight! You just grabbed me when I was fast asleep! That's completely unfair!" Zu twisted in his bonds. The ropes around him were tight and thick, nearly cocooning him. If he could just get even one wing free... But no matter how much he squirmed, they weren't getting the least bit looser. Maybe if he tucked his head in a bit and tried to chew on them...

Gäap grabbed Zu by the scruff of his neck and lifted him up to eye level. "Ha! We're devils, genius. Fair or not don't matter. What matters is winning or losing – and I won the crap out of that fight!"

"Put him down now!"

Gäap turned just in time to get one of Camio's boots to his face, and he staggered back, dropping Zu right into Camio's eagerly waiting hands. She clutched the familiar tight, hugging him close to her chest and nuzzling the top of his head, much to his discomfort.

"My poor prince with the mane! Forgive this harsh treatment, but I know you're still so horribly in thrall to your so-called master. The nerve of her!" Camio stalked up and down the side of the dais, squeezing Zu tight. "To think, she'd go so far as to marry an angel just out of spite so you can't be by my side!"

Zu paused in his squirming to stare up at her. "...What are you even talking about?"

"I know! It's horrible, isn't it? As a familiar, you've got to go along with your master, and so she's just going to get married to put you under that wicked angel's thumb. But never fear, my prince!" She held up the small box in one hand, lifting it up as if it were some sort of grand prize trophy. "Without these treasures, that sham of a wedding cannot proceed — and once I use their powers to strike down that little half-human brat, you'll finally be free to join me, and together we can enter a life of eternal bliss!"

Marielou, lounging on the edge of the dais, blinked at Camio in disbelief, then turned towards the henchmen. "Okay, have you guys tried explaining to her that that's not how any of this works? Like, at all?"

"Many times," Ose said remorsefully.

"Once the girl gets an idea in her head, you can't get it out with a sledgehammer," Gäap added, rubbing his sore nose sulkily.

"Great!" Marielou said perkily. "Then there's no reason to feel guilty about this." She turned back to Camio and gave her a bright, beaming smile. "What a wonderful plan, Miss Camio! And I'm sure it's going to work just perfectly! I'm so glad to have found a fine, upstanding devil like yourself who knows what's really going on and how to fix it!"

Camio beamed. "Oh ho ho! And I'm so pleased to have found an angel who finally recognizes my obvious superiority! Really, it's so hard to find good help these days. I've been carrying these two fools ever since our school days, and let me tell you, it's always been the worst! They fumble every plan, they talk back all the time, they never properly pay attention to my genius plans..."

"Genius plans?" Gäap shouted. "Genius my freaking—"

"Calm down, brother," Ose said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Remember what happened the last time we got into a fight with Miss Camio."

Gäap shuddered. "Ugh, don't remind me. Took weeks for my ears to stop ringing."

Camio gestured airily toward the duo. "You see what I mean? Completely hopeless."

"Oh, you're so right, big sister Camio!" Marielou gushed. "I don't know how you ever managed to get by before I came along. Aren't you so glad you finally managed to find a worthwhile sidekick like me?"

"Oh, quite!" Camio said, as Gäap mimed retching motions behind her. "Now, let's get down to business. If we're diligent enough, I'm sure we can have this place thoroughly set up for an ambush long before our perennial rivals arrive. We can certainly rig up something with those banquet tables, and perhaps draw out some curse traps all around the entryway and—"

"Ah, I fear that if you wanted to do that it might have been best to spend less time congratulating yourself and disparaging me and my brother," Ose said, staring up the aisle.

"We got company," Gäap said more succinctly.

At the archway that served as the main entrance to the auditorium, silhouetted by the early afternoon light, Pam and Linfa strode slowly and deliberately inside, wings at their fullest extent, Pam's horns at full size, Linfa's halo blazing.

Pam raised a hand and concentrated, and a tiny blade of fire shaped like a feather shot forth and zipped its way to slice and burn through Zu's ropes. He ripped free of the bindings with a flex of his mighty wings, and soared into the air, slipping free of Camio's desperate grasp before she realized what was happening.

"You had your chance to atone for your misdeeds," Linfa said sternly. "You refused it. Therefore, you will receive no further mercy. Return what you have stolen and remove yourself from these premises, or we will make you do so by force."

Zu plunged down to the ground, transforming as he landed. He rose in his devil-like form. His formal suit, white with lavender accents that contrasted with his dusky skin, and perfectly tailored to fit his athletic frame, still couldn't succeed in making him look anything but rakishly fierce. "Please pick force," he said with a fierce grin.

"Oh ho ho! You've arrived at last, little devil! I was getting tired of waiting for you!"

"We could hear you talking about how you hadn't even started your preparations from outside," Linfa said.

"T-that was an elaborate bluff! Meant to lull you into a false sense of security so you'd step into my previously-prepared traps!"

"Which, if I were to give it any credence at all, you just completely ruined by telling me about it."

"Grr! Fine, then! I don't need cunning tricks when I have these!" She held up the box triumphantly. "Lackies! Fend them off until my preparations are complete!"

Marielou's smile twitched slightly as she was dubbed a flunky, but she kept her cool. Mostly. "O-of course, big sis Camio. You're the boss."

Linfa summoned her lance, and Pam took a deep breath and conjured a thin layer of magical fire around her hands. Across from them, Camio ducked back and turned away as Marielou ran a finger across her magical keyboard and Ose and Gäap stepped forward. "I get first crack at them, okay?" Gäap said.

"Suits me fine," Zu growled with a grin, exuding enough menace that the brothers couldn't help but take half a step back. "Pam, I'll handle the two small fry. You two get the chrome-dome and the maid cosplayer!"

"Chrome-dome?" Camio's fists twitched as she glared at Zu.

"Hmf! I'm not sure what that means, but it doesn't sound nice!" Marielou mock-pouted. "But if it means I get my dear sister all to myself, I'll forgive you!"

Linfa hesitated, looking over towards Pam. "If you want, you could—"

"No, no, it's fine," Pam giggled. "I trust you. Besides, since it looks like Camellia's still got what she stole from me..."

"Oh ho ho! You have that very right, brat!"

"Except for the name," Gäap muttered.

"Focus, brother!" Ose said, calling up a gust of wind as Zu slammed a foot into the side of Gäap's head.

"...then I ought to be the one to get them back," Pam concluded without hesitation.

Linfa nodded and smiled to her. "Stay safe. That's all I ask."

Pam and Camio dashed off around the side of the tree, trying to maneuver around each other, as Linfa and Marielou soared up towards the branches. "Your treasures are mine, little girl," Camio said, "and their power as well!"

"What power? You keep saying that, but I have no idea what you're talking about!" Pam said in frustration, firing off a cluster of quick sparks that Camio dodged easily.

"Oh, don't try to fool me," Camio replied, weaving a quick curse that surrounded Pam with toxic purple smoke. "I've been informed of exactly what these gorgeous little things can do! Their last wielder bound even a prince of devils to her will — and I shall do no less!"

Pam furrowed her brow as she executed a perfect counter-charm (one she'd practiced so many agonizing times in Lizyerra's classes) to dissipate the curse. "That's— wait, are you talking about...? That's not really what happened..."

"Behold!" Camio thrust her fists forwards, a gleaming golden ring on each hand, each engraved with understated but elegant designs that evoked ancient Mesopotamia. "You may be the bearer of the Tupsimati, but I have a power even that cannot stand before. Now face the unbridled might of the Rings of the Great Devil Chikoharu!"

There was a long silence.

It would have been significantly longer if it hadn't been broken by the simultaneous sounds of Pam's face meeting her palm and Zu breaking out into uproarious laughter.

"You know, I thought I had this sorted out with everyone," Pam said wearily. "I mean, sometimes it was a little confusing when I met someone new, but mostly everyone got it. But you've been pestering me for five years now and you still couldn't figure it out?"

"What are you saying, little human brat?" Camio said, watching Pam skeptically as she lowered the rings just a fraction of an inch.

"It's not 'the devil Chikoharu.' Her name was Akumachi Koharu. My grandma. Those are her wedding rings you stole, and since they were made in the Human World, they don't have a trace of magic to them at all."

Gäap leaned in to murmur to Ose again. "Again with the names. Think Camio's teasing the brat this time?"

"Alas, no, big brother," Ose replied just as quietly. "This time, I think it's simply that the woman who employs us is sadly an idiot."

Camio looked at the rings in confusion and horror. "What? No, no, they have to be—"

"Look in the box," Pam said exasperatedly. "The jeweler's receipt is pretty old, but it's still intact."

Zu squared off in front of the brothers as Camio frantically scrabbled with the ring case. "Okay," he said, grinning as he cracked his knuckles. "Now we get to see just how tough you are when you're up against someone who isn't sleeping."

Ose swallowed nervously and looked down at his brother. "I am starting to get the impression that we have gotten in over our heads, brother."

Gäap clenched his fists. "D-don't let him get to you! There's just one of him and two of us. We can beat him – or at least go out fighting!"

Zu laughed. "I'd say it's going to be the second one," he said, and leapt at the duo.

He was right.

Pam watched the increasingly one-sided fight for a few moments before turning back to Camio, who had finally found an old, fragile sheet of paper in the ring box and was mouthing the words silently as she tried to decipher the unfamiliar Japanese characters.

"She really thought those were magic rings, didn't she?" Pam said to herself thoughtfully. "I guess it's not entirely a silly idea. I mean, my necklace did turn out to be magic..." She raised her hand to touch the Tupsimati fragment still hanging around her neck.

Then she lifted the pendant up and fixed it with a skeptical eye. "And I wonder just how she got the idea in the first place," she said. "Not many people have even heard my grandma's name..."

"[Ah — it certainly is a curious mystery that will probably never be solved, more's the pity,]" an echoing, almost synthetic voice said quickly from the pendant.

"Uh-huh," Pam said, her tone matching the very skeptical expression on her face. "You know, Remy, I was sure you'd stop meddling with things after you got the whole renewal of the worlds done. But you just can't let it go, can you?"

"[Isn't there something to be said for making the world more interesting, though?]"

She sighed and let the pendant drop back to hang freely. "You know, if I ever find where you're keeping yourself these days, you're in so much trouble."

Camio finally shoved the receipt back into the jewelry box in frustration and threw it to the ground. "Fine! So these aren't magical artifacts! It doesn't matter! I've come too far to stop now! At long last, no matter what it takes, I'm going to free my prince with the mane, and he'll marry me, and we'll be together forever, and–"

"Idiot!" Zu roared, looking up from the headlock he had Gäap in. "I've told you a thousand times – I don't like you! I'm not into you! And I sure as hell wouldn't marry you if you were the last devil in the world!"

Pam sighed and put a hand to her forehead as Camio stared at Zu with big watery eyes. "Camo... I've tried to be friendly with you. I've tried to tell you when you're being stupid. And I've even tried just ignoring you. But... nothing ever seems to work. And you won't stop doing these things that Zu doesn't want and that mess with me and cause so much trouble to everyone." She gripped her pendant tightly in one hand, her knuckles white with frustration. "I never wanted to fight you, I never wanted to force you into anything... but I can't deal with this any more. So if you're going to insist on wrecking my wedding day, then all I can say is to just CUT IT OUT!"

"Ha! You can't stop me, and I'll never give up just because someone like you is... is..." Camio's voice trailed off as a shadow drifted over her. Something big, above her, blocking out the sun and getting bigger...

There was a resounding crash as the words 'CUT IT OUT,' formed as granite boulders ten feet high, buried Camio, Ose, and Gäap under multiple tons of rock.

Zu touched down right next to Pam, watching as Camio groaned and tried to squirm her way out from under the weight before giving up and passing out. "Okay, I don't care how many times I see it, that's still totally ridiculous."

"[As one of the first powers expressed by the Tupsimati during the rebirth of the world, it has become a fundamental aspect of its nature.]"

"Yeah, but it's still ridiculous."

"[True.]"

High above, in the canopy of the Urnan Tree, Linfa and Marielou danced from branch to giant branch, light-spear thrusts matched and parried by magic-enhanced explosive punches and kicks. Marielou spun past Linfa, catching her with a burst to the small of her back that knocked her into a crouch that she only slowly rose from. "Hang on there, sister! I hate to do this, but soon that stupid devil will have taken out the half-human girl, and you'll be free of her wicked wiles!"

"What wicked wiles?" Linfa asked exasperatedly. "Marielou, this isn't like you. You know that this can't possibly break the love between me and Pam."

"That's not love!" Marielou shot back viciously, playing chords that sent sparkling streamers of light after Linfa. "It can't be love. Devils are selfish, spiteful, vicious brutes that would betray you as soon as look at you. A creature like that would never be able to love the way we angels can!"

"If you think that, then you've never truly known a devil." Linfa danced through the air, wings launching her out of the way of each of Marielou's attacks, but she couldn't get a clear angle for a counterattack.

"I've been stuck with that vapid baldy for weeks now planning this."

"...Camio is perhaps not the best example," Linfa conceded. "But ever since meeting Pam, I've had the chance to meet more devils than I ever did in my life beforehand. Some of them are truly horrible people, to be sure, but no more so than some angels I could name. And I have seen devils that love, devils that care, devils that cry at the cruelty of the world. I have seen devils who work to make the world a better place, and devils who just want to do their jobs and get through the day."

"It's just trickery! Devils do that sort of thing, you know!"

"You really think that every devil I've encountered over the past five years has been a member of some grand ploy to deceive me? Even though you think they're inherently treacherous and unable to trust in others?"

"Y-yes! It makes perfect sense, really! Cadenza: Fermata Pianissimo!" Marielou jumped back nervously as her keyboard summoned a glowing musical staff that wound its way around Linfa, binding her tight and lashing the lower end to the branch she was standing on. 

"Marielou..." Linfa strained at the binding, but to no avail, and Marielou let out a sigh of relief as she came to rest on a nearby branch.

"She's using you, sister. She's getting some sort of sick joy out of it. She's got to be laughing behind your back every day, so happy that she's fooled you into being the first angel to ever be naive enough to fall in love with a devil."

"I refuse to believe that."

"What? That she's tricking you? Because—"

"I refuse to believe that we are the first. How could we be? In the thousands of years since Queen Ishtar and King Marduk ended the war between angel and devil, do you really think that the lines were never once crossed? Do you really think that the enmity of our peoples and the Law of Conservation of Luck could truly stop two hearts from finding each other?" With a flare of light, she strained against the staff binding her until it snapped, vanishing in a twinkling. She fixed Marielou with her fiercest gaze. " _Do you really think that love could be so weak?_ "

Marielou sent up a desperate shower of flashing neon notes to block Linfa's spear of light. "That's — I mean, so what if some stupid angel was dumb enough to fall for a stupid devil? That's not what we're supposed to—"

"What we're supposed to do doesn't matter!" Linfa knocked aside each interposing note with a quick flick of her spear. "This is a new era, Marielou. And we must be the ones to decide what we make of it. We do not have to hold to old ideas of what made a 'proper angel' or a 'proper devil' — least of all the ones that tell us we must be defined by hate and fear." She pulled back, spreading her wings and lifting her spear into an offensive position. "The causes for the war between us are long over. The reasons we had to hate each other — if hate can ever have a reason — are gone. Now, we can define ourselves. A devil can be kind. An angel can be merciful. And love can find fertile soil in the common ground between us."

She looked to Marielou with her full power glowing in her eyes and her halo, and Marielou unthinkingly took a step back, teetering on the edge of her branch. "But if you refuse to see this, if you would stand in the way of love just for the sake of dead tradition, then I will show you no mercy!"

Marielou waved her arms frantically as the glow of Linfa's spear intensified, and crosses of crackling light began manifesting behind her, thrumming with barely-restrained power. "Sister, wait! Please! No! You can't just—"

"Festival of Light: Lugnasadh!"

Marielou had just enough time to see the storm of light lances converging on her position before her brain took the merciful path and passed out.

Marielou awoke in the depths of a small crater, cracked earth and splintered chairs outlining her body. Through the haze of dust and smoke, she could see Linfa standing over her, and Pam hovering a little ways behind.

"Marielou. Are you going to continue this pointless fight?"

Marielou's hand twitched for a moment, but she slumped backwards in despair. "What's the use? I can't beat you. You've always been so much stronger than me. I never had a chance, not if Camio and the others couldn't beat the half-human girl..."

"Her name is Pam."

Marielou looked down, tears brimming in her eyes. "I... I know. I know she's not that bad. I know she loves you, and..." Her voice, quavering, dropped to a whisper. "And I know you love her."

"Marielou..." Pam floated towards her slightly, sympathy in her eyes.

Tears were streaming down her face now. "I just— I just didn't want to lose you. You were always there for me, and I loved you so much, and then... and then you were promoted to full angel and we stopped seeing each other so much, and then you met that, that devil, and ever since then..." She sniffled, trying her hardest not to break down. "And now you're spending so much time in the Human World, and that devil's going to take you away from me forever because she hates me so much..."

"I don't hate you."

Marielou blinked back tears, looking up at Pam, who gave her a soft smile. "I mean, I can't say you're really a friend, either. You've always been pretty mean to me, teasing me and tricking me and lying about me to Linfa. But you're Linfa's friend. And I know she wouldn't like a bad person. So I could never hate you."

"And I would never abandon you." Linfa shook her head. "I will soon be married, true. And I will always have other duties to attend to, other parts of my life that will take some of my time. But do you really think I would forget about you? About all the care and affection you showed me in a time when I was lost and alone? You were selfish and possessive, true, and often your unwanted affections grated on me, but there was a core of good intentions, underneath it all, and I could tell. I asked before if you thought so little of love — but do you really think so little of me?"

Marielou shook her head frantically, unable to stop the tears. "No... No, I couldn't, you're so amazing, but..."

Linfa reached down to Marielou, holding out a hand for her to take. "Marielou. You were always the best of friends to me, even when you and I were on different paths. You were there for me when few others were. And so I have one thing to ask of you. Will you do me the kindness of serving as my maid of honor?"

"I... You mean you'd really..." Marielou stared in shock at the hand, not daring to take it for a moment. Then she reached out, clutched it with both hands, and broke into the loudest wails anyone there had ever heard, as tears of mixed joy and sadness streamed from her like waterfalls.

And Pam and Linfa smiled to each other even as Linfa pulled Marielou up into a hug. At last, it would all be all right.

Everyone was there, in the end. Headmaster Malphas was at the dais they'd set up directly beneath the Urnan Tree, beneath an arch bearing flowers from the angel half of the Spirit World on one side and from the devil half on the other. Zu walked Pam in from the left side, in front of the audience, and Marielou (still alternating between long periods of quiet sniffles and occasional short-but-intense bursts of wailing sobs that mixed sadness and joy into one big muddle) walked Linfa in from the right.

Nearly everyone they knew was in the audience, watching them with joy. The Akumachi and Amayari families in the front row on either side, watching proudly. Much of the faculty from Pandemonium and the Church were in the rows behind them, with most of the current line up of the Church's council sitting as far away from the devils as possible while still maintaining the pretense of politeness. Valic and Sitri had joined each other on a perch off to one side that Pam was desperately trying to avoid thinking of as a cat tower. Digitalis worked with his employer to get the buffet tables off to one side ready, where Buer and a curious little panda-creature were already sneaking snacks. The gremlins from Raim's village had two rows to themselves, and Raim and Vine were sitting with them to make sure they didn't spot anything interesting to make trouble with. Orobas was in the back packing up the supplies he'd used to do a rapid repair of the damage the little skirmish had caused. Even Camio and her flunkies were there, seated in the back under Lizyerra's watchful eye, trying their best to avoid looking like they were going to make any more trouble.

Pam and Rinka's families started the applause as the brides entered, but it was quickly taken up by the rest of the audience, and Pam favored them with a smile before turning back to stare at Linfa, blushing just slightly.

The dresses had been gifts from the Church and Pandemonium, and were done in their respective traditional styles. Linfa's was white and silver, loose and flowing, with glowing highlights empowered by magic that echoed her halo. She looked beautiful, a bouquet of glimmering flowers in her hands — more like a goddess than an angel, Pam thought.

Pam's dress had shocked her the first time she had seen it, but it had grown on her. Devils preferred darker colors, and this dress was a black deeper than the night sky, highlighted with bits of deep red trim and lace. It was cut a bit more daringly than Linfa's, a long hem in the back sweeping up to rise to her knees in front, bare shoulders and a slightly low neckline. It wasn't what she'd have worn to her wedding in the Human World. But for the circumstances, with the devils she'd known and grown to love all around her, it was perfect.

The two of them stopped in front of Malphas, staring into each other's eyes as he began the words of the marriage ceremony — nothing like the human ones Pam knew of, and not the angel or devil ceremonies she'd learned of in the years she'd spent studying the Spirit World, but an ancient one, unearthed from the archives only the chair of the devil council had access to, which dated back to the days of Marduk and Ishtar, or perhaps even before. One that had been used by both devil and angel in those days, and might even have been said for Marduk and his beloved Koharu.

Pam's stomach was full of butterflies. She could barely hear Malphas's words as she stared up into Linfa's eyes. This was it. She was about to be married.

And it was true: this was the first marriage of angel and devil in anyone's memory — perhaps the first public marriage between the two sides ever. Whatever she did now, whatever she said now, was going to be remembered by everyone who followed in their footsteps.

And as Malphas's words came to an end, she knew. There was only one thing important enough for her to say. She licked her lips and took a deep breath.

And as she spoke, she realized Linfa was saying the exact same words.

"Wherever we may be, no matter what the consequences, no matter who we are. In this moment, we love, just the two of us."

And she leaned up as Linfa leaned down, and then they were kissing.

In the moment, for the two of them, there was nothing but love.

**Author's Note:**

> Coincidentally, I had just reread Stray Little Devil for the first time in many years a month or so before the Yuletide fandom list was finalized. When I saw it there, I had to sign up for it (along with about forty other fandoms), and it was a pleasant surprise to see it on my assignment list.
> 
> Back in the day, one of the things I liked most about it was the yuri ending back when those were vanishingly rare. And so I was very pleased to be able to come back to Pam and Linfa (and Rinka!) and try to imagine what their future would be like. But it wasn't just them, of course -- I loved all the characters in the manga, and so I tried to include practically everyone there was a place for.
> 
> As I was rereading the manga several times over to get ideas and make sure I had all my facts right, I came across quite a few things I'd skimmed over before or completely failed to notice, like the appearance of the people in Raim's village, or the cat that's strongly implied to be Valic's spirit form, or the brief glimpse of Pam's parents in the epilogue. I also was fortunate enough to find a book of Yosano Akiko's poems in my local library, and some articles on her — she was really a fascinating character! I did diverge a little from the shot of the happy couple in wedding outfits at the start of volume 5, but that could easily be Pam and Rinka's Human World wedding, right?
> 
> I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I still think there are some rough spots I could have done better, but deadlines are what they are. I hope you have some happy holidays, and that your future is as bright as Pam and Linfa's!


End file.
